Our annual Financial Planning Today survey is under way and the early findings are already revealing some surprising findings, including the depth of confidence in the profession despite the economic headwinds and concerns about the rising cost of regulation.

If you haven’t yet completed the survey there is still time - it ends on Sunday 29 June and you can click the link below to take part (it’s for Financial Planners, Paraplanners, Wealth Managers and IFAs).

To my surprise, confidence in the Financial Planning profession remains very high with 75% of respondents so far polled saying they are confident in the future and only 7% negative. This may change, of course.

In terms of the biggest economic challenges facing Financial Planners, it's interesting that global economic turmoil has been listed as the biggest challenge, followed by rising regulatory costs.

• Financial Planning Today Reader Survey 2025 - Click Here to take part - £50 M&S vouchers to win in our prize draw

It’s clear from the findings so far that most readers are confident about the future, a recurring theme in recent surveys over the past few years, but there is no doubt that doing business in this sector is getting harder with a stack of challenges piling up. Anaemic growth in the number of Financial Planners also suggests that recruitment is expensive and difficult.

The number of Financial Planners should be surging but it's not and that's something that requires a wider debate.

The survey findings will be published in mid-July in our Financial Planning Today magazine and will provide a comprehensive and fascinating insight on the profession and where it’s heading. Make sure you watch out for the issue and coverage on Financial Planning Today website too.

Another major adviser survey this week, from the Lang Cat consultancy, found that many advisers were negative about the prospects of targeted or simplified advice being given the green light by the FCA. Despite this, half of advisers are interested themselves in launching a targeted support / simplified advice service.

I put this down to concerns about the new generation of guidance services potentially undermining regulated Financial Planning but tinged with some keen business interest in potential new advice/guidance opportunities.

In a speech this week FCA CEO Nikhil Rathi hinted strongly that an announcement on targeted advice is imminent so we may not have long to wait to find out what the FCA has planned.

With the Lang Cat survey revealing that only 9% of people pay for regulated advice and a suggestion that the Consumer Duty has forced up the costs of advice and actually created an even bigger advice gap, the time is probably ripe for the FCA to open the doors to millions more getting some sort of support with their financial decisions.

I don’t see this as a threat to Financial Planning but more of a solution to an endemic problem, the huge lack of support for people on modest means - the average saver - wanting to save and invest but not knowing how or where to start. Whether targeted advice will resolve the confusion and inertia savers often experience when trying to work out what to do I don’t know.

The FCA will, of course, point out the growth opportunities for financial services in reaching many more people and getting more people to save and invest will be no bad thing.

Certainly, without more people investing and much earlier in life their retirement their prospects look pretty grim.

• Thanks to the many who have taken part in our Financial Planning Survey so far. If you haven't done so yet please do before Sunday (29 June). As a thank you for taking part we'll enter you into an optional prize draw to win a £50 M&S voucher (3 to win), make a charity donation to a food bank charity and send you the findings in our next Financial Planning Today magazine. The link to the survey is above or click here: Survey

Kevin O’Donnell is editor of Financial Planning Today and a journalist with 40 years of experience. This topical comment on the Financial Planning news appears most weeks, usually on Fridays but occasionally other days.  Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Follow @FPT_Kevin 

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